Dry-dock.



110.721,22'3. PATENTBD 111111.24, "1903.v

' 1.1. OROURKE.

DRY DOCK.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT. 19, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

mals PETERS co, PHnrourNo., wAsHmm'oN u c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I JOHN F. OROURKE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DRY-DOCK.

PECIFIQATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 721,223, dated February 24, 1903. Application led SeptemberllQ, 1902. Serial No. 123,991. (No model.)

Figure 1 is a cross-section of the dock, showing the vessel in position within the same. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same with the roofs of the machine-shop removed. and one of the side walls of the dry-dock shown in section.

Heretofore and before this my invention great diiiculty and delay have been had in applying the materials necessary -in the repairs vof vessels in dry-docks and much expense incurred in the great amount of hand labor required in making such repairs. To overcome these difficulties, 'I make the dry-dock with one or more chambers or rooms adjacent thereto and connected therewith by openings or doors. These chambers or rooms are connected with the surface of the adjacent ground by elevators or stairs, soY that access may be had to them at any or all times,

The dry-dock is surrounded by the main walls A, B, and C and closed at the entrance or end by the gates D D in the usual manner. The chamber or room is made adjacent to the side walls, so that the wall of the drydock A B O forms one side thereof. These chambers or rooms E F Gare shown in Fig. 2, one on each of the land sides ofthe drydock, and each is connected with'the dry-dock at or about the level of the bottom thereof by the openings or,V doors H, which may be few or many, according to the size of the dock and character of the work done therein. Each door or opening is provided with a pairof gates I K, arranged to be closed before the dry-dock is filled with water and made watertight to keep the water from entering the chambers E F G. The chambers E F G are supplied with tracks L, on which cars M run to convey materials and machine-tools used in the repairing of the vessel in the dry-dock. In the chamber F the tracks are shown as connected by a series of turn-tables N O ,P5 but they may be supplanted by switches or other devices without departing from my invention.

The chambers E F G are provided'with machine-tools operated by power to do the necessary work required on the vessel in the drydock, and many of the tools are so arranged that they may be moved out from the chambers E F G to the dry-dock and be brought in close proximity to the vessel undergoing repairs.

I have shown the chambers as being on the same level with the bottom of the dock; but

that maybe varied from, and they may be higher or lower than the level of the bottom of the dock. I have also shown the three chambers E F G; but it ismanifest that one or two of these chambers may be omitted and the dock provided with only one chamber as a machine-shop without departing from the nature of this invention.

The great advantage of having the necessary materials inclose proximity to the ves- -sel and of having the materials alongside of it givesthe dry-dock greater capacity by decreasing the time necessary to make the repairs and shortening the time the vessel is detained in having the repairs made.

I have heretofore made application for paty ent for improvementin dry-docks, in which a chamber or machine-shop was placed under or below the vessel-receiving part of 'the dry- 'dock and the machinery and material raised from the same by elevators; but that requires morepower to operate than when the machine-shop is on nearly the same level as the vessel.V I Y WhatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination in a dry-dock of one or more chambers communicating with the drydock by a door in the wall thereof, closed'by water-tight gates, substantially as specified and set forth.

2. The combination in a dry-dock of one or more chambers connected therewith by a door or opening in the wall thereof, closed by Water-tight gates and having communication with the surface of the ground in which the dock is situated, substantially as specified and set forth.

JOHN F. OROURKE. 

